


What We Always Knew

by liairene



Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [16]
Category: Emma - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Engagement, F/M, Modern Era, Small Towns, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25710178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liairene/pseuds/liairene
Summary: In the middle of Christmas Eve dinner, George Knightley (sort-of) asked Emma Woodhouse to marry him. Or maybe she asked him. Either way, they're engaged.
Relationships: George Knightley/Emma Woodhouse
Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/908481
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	What We Always Knew

“I’m behind the house,” George said.

“Can I ask why?” Emma’s voice sounded suspicious and a little confused.

“Can you just come out here? It would be easier.”

“My dad is sleeping in the living room. Do you know how hard it is to sneak past when he’s sleeping?”

He sighed. “Do you realized how weird it is that you’re thirty years old and you’re sneaking past your father?”

She huffed. “Don’t knock free rent, Mr. I Still Live in My Childhood Home.”

“Hey, I bought that from my parents. I’m not mooching off of them.”

“I’m not mooching off my dad! I’m saving Izzy and John from hourly panicked calls from Dad.”

“Fine, whatever,” he grumbled. “Can you please just come out here?”

“It’s cold out there.”

“I know. I’m the one standing behind the house.”

She sighed. “Can’t you just tell me over the phone?”

“Emma,” George sighed. “I just proposed to you in the middle of Christmas Eve dinner in front of both of our families. And we haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.”

“Just come in through the garage,” she sighed.

“The garage?” he repeated.

“Yeah, You know that door on the side of the house by the trash cans?”

“Yeah,” he said slowly.

“That goes into the garage. Open it, come into the house, and come up the stairs to my room.”

“And THAT won’t wake your dad up? Didn’t you just say that it’s hard to sneak past him?”

“Not if you walk quietly, Bigfoot, besides if I went outside, I’d have to go through the sliding door in the living room.”

He sighed as he opened the door to the garage. “Because you can’t come out through the garage?”

“If you come in, it’s warmer,” she answered cheerfully.

“I’ll see you in a minute.”

* * *

Less than two minutes later, George walked into the second bedroom to the left of the stairs where Emma Woodhouse was sitting on her bed bundled up in an oversized cream cardigan and a pair of dark green pajama pants. “Hi, fiancé,” she grinned.

George shook his head. “I feel overdressed.”

“You’re the one who wanted to talk at eleven-thirty on Christmas Eve. And you’re the one who has a bunch of small children who still believe in Santa staying in your house.”

“Yeah, that just means that I have to stay here until at least twelve-thirty so that I don’t get caught by anyone watching for Santa.”

Emma sighed. “Surely Cate and our nephews aren’t waiting up for Santa.”

He snorted. “Ha, Cate and Jack are totally parked on the couch.”

“Are they actually awake?”

“Eh,” he replied. “Who knows? Those kids can be pretty committed when they want to be. Have you met their aunt?”

She threw a pillow at him. “They have a crazy uncle too, you know!”

He snagged the pillow and put it on Emma’s desk chair before settling himself on the edge of her bed. “So, dinner tonight,” he began.

She nodded. “Yeah, we had dinner tonight. My dad was there, and my sister and your brother and pretty much everyone in your family-they were all also there. And you asked me a question.”

“And you answered it.”

“I did,” she replied with a slight smile.

“But I want to talk about that question and your answer.”

She leaned forward. “Oh, you do? Are you taking it back?”

George laughed wryly. “I don’t want to.”

“Good,” Emma replied. “My answer was very serious.”

“So you do want to marry me?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

He smiled and leaned forward. “Excellent, because if I haven’t mentioned this recently I love you Emma Woodhouse, and I definitely want to marry you.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Were you really uncertain of me?”

Emma leaned back into her pillows. “George, I don’t know if you know this, but traditionally a marriage proposal doesn’t begin with the future bride asking the future groom if he wants to marry her.”

“When have we ever been traditional, Em?”

She rolled her eyes. “We may not be the most traditional couple on the planet, but even I would like a little more romance than asking you TWICE in front of both of our families if you want to marry me.”

“What did you want?”

She sighed. “Roses, pearls?”

“Pearls?”

“Yes, George Knightley, I would like a pearl ring.”

“I wasn’t prepared for the moment. I don’t have a ring yet. There are downsides to impromptu proposals, Emma.”

“Hell, you know what I would really like, George?”

“What?”

“Could you please for the love of all that is holy actually ask me to marry you?”

He blinked. “I didn’t do that earlier?”

She shook her head. “No, you never actually said the magic words.”

George sighed.

* * *

**Earlier that evening...**

That Christmas Eve evening had begun at George’s house for the Knightley family annual Christmas Eve dinner. Dinner was lively. There was bread, pot roast, vegetables, and a large salad. Emma was seated between George and Cate, their six-year-old niece. “You want to know what I made?” Emma whispered in Cate’s ear.

Frankie turned to her companion. “Yeah, what?”

“Guess,” Emma replied with a scheming glint in her eye.

The girl looked over the table. Bread, salad, pot roast, and vegetables-what could her aunt have made?

George looked at Cate’s curious gaze and shook his head. “Did she ask you to guess what she cooked?”

Cate nodded wordlessly.

“Have you guessed yet?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Do you want me to tell you?”

“Sure.”

“George,” Emma cautioned.

“Emma Alexandra,” he replied.

“George Louis,” she mimicked. “Don’t ruin my fun.”

He sighed. “Cate, she didn’t make anything. Your aunt cannot boil water. If her life depended on her ability to cook, she’d probably die.”

“How does she eat?”

“Frozen food, Elsa, me,” he replied casually.

“My dad owns a restaurant,” Emma added.

“Yes, her dad owns a vineyard that includes a restaurant, but she can’t cook.”

“Hey! You cook. Elsa cooks. My dad cooks. Everyone I know can cook. I’ve never starved!”

George sighed. “But you tried to trick Cate.”

Cate shrugged. “I don’t mind. I thought it was funny.”

“See! She thought it was funny.”

“Fine, but you still can’t cook. What are you going to do with yourself?”

“Marry a man who can cook.”

“Oh yeah?” he replied. “And who might that be?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Ed, Will, and Erik are all off the market. I don’t think that Chris is my type. So, I don’t know, George Knightley. Do you want to marry me?”

The whole table fell silent as she said that. George looked at Emma. Everyone else looked at him.

“Say that again,” George said faintly.

“I said,” Emma began awkwardly. “I asked if you wanted to marry me.”

“As a joke?” he replied. “Or are you serious? Are we actually talking about this in front of my entire family?”

She shrugged; the awkwardness of the situation was beginning to flood her face. “I mean…”

John Knightley broke the silence with a sigh. “Maybe you two ought to have this conversation somewhere else?”

“Emma?” George offered as he rose from the table.

“But if you want my input,” the younger Knightley brother continued. “You two have been together for ages. You already act like a married couple. I don’t see why you don’t just make the show official.”

George sighed producing almost the exact same sound that his brother had made only moments earlier. “I don’t recall asking for your input.”

John looked up at George, a smile on his bearded face. “I’m your brother, man. You don’t have to ask for my input. I give it for free.”

“John,” the older brother spoke in a grim voice.

“George,” Emma interrupted.

“George, I’m just trying to help you,” John inserted.

“George,” Emma hissed. “Can we talk?”

“John, let’s not do this here.”

“George,” Emma repeated. “Will you listen to me?”

“George, don’t let a good thing slip your fingers.”

“John,” Emma changed tactics and turned to the Knightley on the other side of the table. “Shut up.”

“Why?”

“So I can ask your stupid brother to freaking marry me.”

“My stupid brother? You want to marry my stupid brother?”

“Well, it’s not the worst idea I’ve had this week.”

George sighed. “Em, be serious. Everyone is here. Do you really want to do this now?”

“Why not?” she replied. “Let’s just do this and be done with it so everyone stops asking. Do you want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, good; I’d also like to marry you. Shall we consider ourselves engaged?”

“It’s not the most romantic proposal ever, but I suppose it’ll work.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Alice groaned. “Can’t you at least kiss?”

“I guess?” Emma said.

“Does anyone object to George kissing me? Dad?”

Henry Woodhouse shook his head. “The boy apparently wants you to marry him. You might as well let him kiss you.”

The tips of George’s ears flushed red as his newly minted fiancée stood up to kiss him.

* * *

Back in Emma’s bedroom, Emma persisted. “I asked you. You didn’t ask me.”

“I was going to ask you.”

“When?”

“I was planning to go ring shopping with my mom on Wednesday.”

She smiled. “Are you planning on sticking with that plane?”

He shrugged. “I was thinking about taking you with me instead.”

Emma nodded. “Okay, I could go with that. But once you have the ring, I want you to propose to me properly.”

“Properly?”

“You have to get down on one knee and everything.”

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll get down on one knee. Do I have to get roses?”

She smiled. “That would be nice.”

“Elsa didn’t expect those things from Will.”

“He had a plan!”

“Hey, I had a plan too. It was just foiled by an impetuous redhead.”

She shook her head. “That’ll teach you. You’ve got to watch out for impetuous redheads.”

He moved closer to her. “I should have learned that a long time ago.”

“And yet,” Emma smiled.

“And yet,” he repeated before kissing her.

* * *

“I don’t want to tell anyone yet,” George told Emma when they met in her kitchen before Mass the next morning.

“You think that your brother didn’t text half of our friends after dinner last night? And Izzy, Alice, and Oliver know. And our niece and nephews and all of Alice’s siblings…good lord, George, how secret do you expect this to be?”

He sighed. “I trust Alice and Oliver. I mostly trust Izzy.”

Emma smirked. “But not your brother and your three younger cousins?”

“We’re probably lucky if Evelyn didn’t plaster it all over social media while it was happening.”

She shrugged. “She’s not as bad as Lily Bennet would have been.”

He shook his head. “What is that Elsa always says about her?”

“If a thing happened in Lily’s life but it didn’t end up on Instagram, did it really happen?”

George rolled his eyes. “I can’t imagine thinking like that.”

“Well, you and Lily are slightly different people. But forget about Lily. My point is that I wouldn’t be surprised if people already know about our engagement.”

“Do you really think that my brother would tell people?”

She nodded. “I’m pretty sure that he has bets going with at least three different people about when you would finally propose to me.”

George gasped. “My own brother is gambling on my personal life?”

“On OUR personal lives with OUR supposed friends,” Emma corrected him.

He sighed. “We’ve got to find some new friends.”

“Well, given that we live in the same town that we grew up in and you work with two of the people involved in John’s bets, I think that might be a little harder than you’d think.”

“Do you have to have an answer to everything?”

“You’ve known me my entire life. You agreed to marry me. You should know the answer to that by now. But in the meantime, we need to get to Mass. Are you coming with Dad and me?”

“It’s better than being jammed into the minivan with John and Izzy’s brood or being stuffed into the backseat of my parents’ car.”

Emma crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “So yes?”

“I’d rather be in the backseat of your car than my parents’. You’ve got more leg room.”

“Right, go wait by the car. Let me get Dad.”

George grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled her close before kissing her. When they separated, he smiled. “I’ll see you in the car.”

* * *

After Mass, Elsa poked Emma in the shoulder. “Hey, my fiancé told me that your fiancé’s brother texted him about some exciting news last night.”

“Yeah, I think that I know what you heard,” Emma replied with a slight smile.

“So it’s true? You basically proposed to George last night?”

“Yes, but he’s going to propose to me properly.”

Elsa hooked her arm through Emma’s. “Oh, is he?”

Emma nodded. “I told him that he had to propose to me.”

“Good girl,” her friend giggled. “I’m so excited for you.”

“Thanks,” the redhead replied leaning her head against her friend’s. “You know that once he properly proposes I’m going to ask you to be my maid of honor.”

Elsa wrapped an arm around Emma’s shoulders. “Unless you get married in the next week, I’m going to be your matron of honor.”

“Do you really want people running around calling you a matron?”

“You have a point there.”

“I thought you’d see it that way.”

Elsa smiled. “Your secret is safe with me, Em.”

“Thanks, Else. I appreciate it.”

“Just remember. It might be safe with you, but it isn’t safe with John or half of the rest of George’s family.”

“I’m sorry.”

* * *

Emma was back home opening presents with her family when her phone buzzed. She picked it up to find a text from Alice. “I talked to Elsa. Don’t worry. I’ve got Ev under control for a couple of days.”

Emma smiled before replying. “How?”

“The oldest sibling always knows what the younger siblings want and how to leverage that.”

Emma shook her head before showing George the exchange. He laughed. “Don’t tell my uncle, but that girl was born to be a lawyer. She would have been wasted as an accountant.”

* * *

Three days later, George and Emma went to Churchill’s, a jewelry store in Mansfield. As they walked in, he looked at her. “Now, are you just going to pick what you want, or are you going to let me have any say in this?”

Emma shrugged. “I don’t really know yet. I want to see what your taste is first.”

“I appreciate that,” he replied.

When they reached the counter, the attendant was Frank Churchill, nephew of the owners and Emma’s high school prom date. His smile as they approached was strained and a touch unnatural. “Well, well,” he began. “If it isn’t my old pal, Emma Woodhouse; how are you?”

“I’m doing quite well,” she replied casually. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know,” he said. “I’m as well as I’ve ever been. What brings you here today? Are you helping George pick out something for his significant other.”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You and George, you’ve always been buddy-buddy. And I’m guessing that you’re here to help him pick out a ring for whomever he’s seeing.”

Emma’s voice was downright prim when she spoke. “Well, I am helping him pick out a ring for his significant other, but as it happens, I am that significant other.”

“You? You two are together? I always knew that you were pining for him, but I never thought he would give you the time of day.”

“Shows what you know,” she muttered.

“Hey, look at the guy. I never really saw him as being into a girl like you.”

Emma looked at George, dressed in jeans, hiking boots, and a slightly tattered white cable-knit sweater under a well-loved leather jacket. His dark brown beard was slightly scruffy, and his hair was in desperate need of a trim-preferably before the Bennet-Darcy wedding in three days. “And why is that?”

Frank adjusted his tie slightly. “He’s all scruffy and rugged, and you’re…you know.”

Emma smoothed the skirt of her wool coat and looked down her sleek leggings to her knee-high boots with their stiletto heels. “So I can’t marry him because I have a different sense of style than him?”

Before Frank could reply, George inserted himself into the conversation. “Also, we’re here to buy a ring. But if you’re going to keep talking like this, we might go elsewhere.”

Frank gulped at that. “Right, a ring, for you two, what are you looking for?”

“Something unique like her,” George began.

“Something with a vintage feel,” Emma added. “I want it to be something that Audrey Hepburn would wear.”

“Do you have a preference for stones?”

“Diamonds feel traditional,” George said.

“They are,” Frank agreed.

Emma shrugged. “I like pearls. I really like pearls.”

“Okay,” her fiancé replied gently.

“My mom’s ring had pearls.”

“What metal do you like?” Frank asked.

“I hate gold. Silver is pretty.”

“Silver?” Frank repeated.

Emma gave him a quizzical look. “You’re not a very good salesman, are you? You’ve got to give the customers what you want. Even I know that.”

“Even you?” George repeated. “You have a freaking MBA, Em. Of course you know things like that.”

She replied with an agitated sigh. “Be that as it is. I just want a silver ring with pearls.”

“If you’re sure,” Frank replied.

“She’s sure,” George told him firmly. “Frank, could you please just show us silver rings with pearls? We’d like something elegant.”

“Something with a vintage touch,” Emma added.

Frank thought for a moment. “I think that I might have something for you. Give me a moment while I get it.”

After Frank walked away, George turned to his fiancée. “Em, what happened to your mom’s ring?”

“My dad has it.”

“Where did my brother get Izzy’s ring?”

She pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “It belonged to one of my grandmas. I can’t remember if it was my grandma Woodhouse’s or my grandma Evans’s. I think it might have been grandma Woodhouse’s. We’re her only grandkids, but we have cousins on the Evans side. I think that Nana gave her ring to Lucas when he and Kellie got engaged. So Izzy must have Grandma Woodhouse’s ring?”

George steadied his gaze on her, not to be deterred from his original aim. “But your dad has your mom’s ring?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s in his dresser. I used to take it out and look at it when I was in high school.”

“That’s good to know.”

Emma turned to face him. “Why haven’t you ever asked about that before?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Will has had his mom’s ring for ages. He never had to go looking for it.”

George leveled his blue gaze on her. “Em, that’s because it was his mother’s ring, and his mother died when he was an adult. I’m interested in YOUR mother’s ring, not my mom’s ring. I don’t know where your mother’s things are, but I know where my mom’s are.”

“Either in Arizona or at your house,” she quipped.

He shrugged. “Yes, you’re right. But my point is that Will gave Elsa his own mother’s ring. I’m wondering where your mother’s ring is, and I don’t tend to keep track of my friends’ parents’ jewelry.”

“Fine, fair point,” Emma assented. “Are you thinking about asking my dad for my mom’s ring?”

“Kind of?”

She shook her head. “Don’t do it. He won’t give it up.”

“I just thought that since you like it so much.”

“I like it, but I know that he treasures it. He’s not ready to let it out of his grasp.”

“So I’m left to what Frank can find that you like.”

“Or another jeweler,” she persisted. “This isn’t the only jewelry store in the world or even in Mansfield.”

George smiled. “You’re right.”

“I know I am. So let’s see what he has, and if we don’t like it, we can go to DeCourcy’s. They might have something that we like.”

“I like that plan.”

Frank came back just then. “We don’t have many pearl rings. They’re not very popular at the moment. But I have three that I think that you might like.”

Emma focused her attention on the tray Frank had just set on the counter. The first ring she picked up was a simple silver band with a pearl set atop the ring. She grimaced and shook her head. “It’s too simple.”

“It isn’t really an engagement ring,” Frank admitted. “I didn’t think you’d like it.”

The second ring was a small pearl set into silver filigree. She picked it up. “It’s okay but too simple.”

“I don’t like it,” George told her.

“That settles it,” she replied as she lifted up the third ring. “Oh, but this one, George! Look at it.”

The ring she held up was a sunburst with a pearl in the center and diamonds surrounding with delicate filigree engraved on the band. George smiled. “Do you like it?”

“I love it. I need it.”

George turned to Frank. “I think that we’ve found a winner.”

Emma grinned.

* * *

“We’re not announcing officially until after Will and Elsa’s wedding,” Emma said when they were in the car heading home.

“Okay,” George replied, his eyes fixed on the road.

“I don’t want to steal their thunder.”

“That makes sense.”

She looked down at her hand. “I really like my ring.”

He smiled. “I’m glad.”

“I don’t know if I should wear it to Elsa’s wedding.”

George looked at her. “Why wouldn’t you?”

She blinked. “Well, we’re not publicly announcing our engagement until after their wedding, and I don’t want to steal their spotlight. So I could just not wear the ring, and that way, no one would know.”

“Ask Elsa about that.”

“What do you mean?”

George chewed his lower lip for a moment before answering. “I like to think that I know Elsa pretty well, and I know that she knows you very well. I’m not sure that she’d want you to hide our engagement just to avoid stealing her spotlight. Sure, she wouldn’t like it if you hogged her spotlight, but I don’t think that she’d want you to not wear that ring at her wedding.”

“Maybe.”

“Ask her. She’ll understand your motives, but she’s also an extremely generous person. And as long as you’re not walking around announcing it to everyone, I think that you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

* * *

The next morning, Emma found Elsa behind the counter at the Knit Wit. “Well, this is a surprise.”

Emma looked at her friend. “What do you mean? I get coffee before work every morning.”

“Yeah, but you’re not working this week. I wasn’t expecting to see you before noon today.”

“I can see why you’d say that, but I needed to get away from my dad for a bit. And I need to talk to you.”

Elsa smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“A large peppermint mocha and toasted sourdough with peanut butter.”

“You got it. That’ll be seven ninety-five.”

Emma handed over her credit card. “So George and I picked out my ring yesterday.”

“Me see?” Elsa queried.

“I’m going to call Mansfield U and tell them to revoke your doctorate in English.”

Elsa snorted as she returned Emma’s card. “My doctorate is in literature, not grammatical structure.”

“I still think that they expect you to use the English language properly.”

“If you have issues with my language use, I think you should go talk to my third grade teacher.”

“Wasn’t Alice’s mom our third grade teacher?”

Elsa nodded wordlessly.

“I’m not going up against Aunt Claire about your grammar. I’ll never win that one.”

“That’s for sure. Okay, now show me the ring.”

Emma giggled as she extended her hand. “Look at it.”

Elsa grabbed her friend’s hand. “I like it. It’s different. It’s very you.”

“I’m glad that he let me pick it. I really like this.”

“I’m so happy for you, Em.”

Emma grinned. “Thanks.”

“So what did you want to talk about?”

“So, I was thinking about not wearing the ring at your wedding. We’re not announcing our engagement until next week after you wedding because we don’t want to steal your spotlight. So I was thinking that I wouldn’t wear the ring because I don’t want to steal your thunder.”

Elsa shrugged. “You’re so sweet, Em, but I don’t think that you need to worry about stealing my thunder just by wearing the ring. It’s not like people are going to spend the whole night staring at your hand. I think you’ll be fine to wear it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Heck, yeah, wear your ring. Don’t worry about me.”

* * *

Emma wore the ring, and as George and Elsa had suspected, it didn’t draw loads of attention. They kept their secret just that for a few more days. When they did announce their engagement, their friends and families were thrilled for them. Alice and Oliver threw them a small party. And while Mr. Woodhouse bemoaned the fact that his daughter was abandoning him, the general mood was best summed up by Will Darcy who said, “We’re are so happy that you’ve finally accepted what we all always knew. And we know that you two will be very happy together.”

* * *

The End...for now.


End file.
